Page 2 of 10 FirstFirst 12345678910 LastLast
Results 16 to 30 of 138

Thread: Soft plastic modifications- or ditch it?

  1. #16

    Re: Soft plastic modifications- or ditch it?

    Firstly what a great thread JM. Wow how many people have the guts in the indusry to write like this? I hope it's appreciated as many on here complain about mag articles, well here is an article completely the opposite to many mag articles, use it well.

    I hope it gets sent around the country to every single tackle shop and major tackle outlets for their staff to have a thought provoking read of. I reckon the tournament guys will be lapping up the content of this thread and using a lot of it on the barra tour. I realise some would already be doing so.

    Rob yes all the clues for yabbies have been on dvd for a couple of years and in book form for over 12 months. (Impoundment scene) All in JM's printed and visual work etc.

    I like The River 2 Sea Yabbies as they come standard with internal rattles.
    I'll give you one when i see you on a barra dam hopefully this year.

    Wow with this thread i can see many tournament & social fisho's throwing a storm soft plastic on their rods and going away from old brands that have been overtaken. Only 12 months ago a hollow type plastic (5 varients at Foxies) hit the market and showed how good they were and highlighted problems with others. All of a sudden the ante is really upped for any soft plastic company to compete on the Australian Barra Scene.

    The challenge is for us (the fisho's) to be smart enough not to be brainwashed by marketing and to have the ability to one, get off our ass and search for, then spot a good soft plastic.

    Spotters: Mitchells thread above lists some of the most important things we should be looking for. Imagine if all tackle shops read this thread, we would have the most amazing supplies of plastics on the shelves. Food for thought.. It would also spell the end of poor average Joe and Jill walking in to a tackle shop and getting handed a 4 year old soft plastic with atleast 3 major weakness in it's out of packet performance.

    People: In the last 12 months of research on my barra travels i've spotted a pattern with many men in the barra scene. They will try a new soft plastic for maybe an hour or so then get rid of it and go back to what they have been using for years. They will then cast this plastic for 14 hours a day and eventually get a barra so in their minds they are saying "See this one does work", but in reality the others never got a go.

    So i'm guessing confidence or lack of to stay on a path less travelled is the hardest thing to be committed to. But who said the other path was right, the marketers images in the back of your mind maybe???

    Evolution: However i've seen pockets of fisho's going about their work quietly and in many respects way ahead of the mainstream. Quiet Achievers like many of the Tinaroo Crew for instance were onto storms thousands of days ago with some guys consistantly catching barra to the tune of 115 in some years with the Storms etc etc, every year x more than one angler.

    NT: Many of the fella's i know up there have considered the soft plastics that have lobbed on to the market in the last 12 months as their Secret Weapons on N.T. Barra. They love them that much and said " It's about time".

    W.A: Many of you would already have noted the success of these plastics in Sangroper threads, so there you have it, 3 other barra scenes in a small summary from my barra diary. The common link between all of them is that they are Quiet Achievers, thinkers & doers, not followers. This poses an interesting question: Which one are we when fishing?

    The only reason not to change from a poorer product is if we are brainwashed or Lazy. Nobody is saying it's a silver bullet, but people are saying there are better products out there if you look with open eyes and minds.

    If none of this info is taken on board, then all of JM's thousands of barra caught and lure/soft plastic trials are wasted on the readers that won't take any good advice on board. I see a few have run with some of the ideas provided which is awesome to see as it's help given for Free which easily like others could have been kept for articles or DVD's. Food for thought.

    Cheers Lyndon.

  2. #17

    Re: Soft plastic modifications- or ditch it?

    So what does this say, plastics catch fish and in particular barra? Yes but that's not new news. Even us Neanderthals still set in our Palaeolithic ways are able to comprehend that (still not all that good on nets though apparently).

    So what is new, that there are both good and poor quality products on the shelf all saying "We can do the job!"? When you think about that it's what you'd expect but you'd like to think that once things settled the cream would rise to the top. Unless, as Morpheus put it “The Matrix is the world that has been pulled over your eyes, to blind you from the truth.”? Those machines were smart marketers (bugger me…..is JM the 'One' ???...... Sorry, red herring.)

    So armed with that information, that there is both good and bad to wade through on the shelves and we need to see through the marketing hype what does someone like me, still a bit confused about what the key ingredients to look for in a plastic look for? What can we eliminate at the shop and then when we tie it on how do we assess its performance given that fish are not always on hand to assist?

  3. #18

    Re: Soft plastic modifications- or ditch it?

    Cheers Lyndon! I havent seen the Monduran DVD yet so i will have to get my hands on it and watch it! Good too here my idea with yabbies wasnt a silly one...
    Cheers mate and look forward meeting on the water well talk yabbies lol... dare i mention i recken a barra would eat small eels? and ive seen them swimming on the surface at the same time as the barra were sunning themselves....

  4. #19

    Re: Soft plastic modifications- or ditch it?

    Have already caught barra on tiki anacondo worms, 7 inch with curl tail, look just like a snake or eel. Definitely work, so you're on the right track setthehook,
    cheers scott

  5. #20

    Re: Soft plastic modifications- or ditch it?

    I'll try to put this pic up again. I really want you blokes to check this one out. I noticed they have a 3" version which I'd love to try on the bass. It excited me, but then again I'm fairly easily excited
    I wonder how slow it could be worked ??? I'm guessing that the shape would mean that a little speed would be needed to keep it upright. Then again the segmented body may provide enough swimming action to do the job. Hmmmmm now I just have to track some down.
    So shines a good deed in a weary world
    - William S Shakespeare and William S Wonka_

  6. #21

    Re: Soft plastic modifications- or ditch it?

    LGM,

    Nice looking lures..Storm does a plastic similar..its a 3 section plastic with a bib...I got some from OS (dont beleive they are in OZ)...I also have a HB that really resembles a boney, called the sebile magic swimmer again from OS (there is a pick of one in my thread I started about 'show us your fav lures)...they work a treat. Similar to a stiffy, but jointed.

    JM & Lyndon, thanks for the thread...ALL the barra I got in my latest session were on some cheap nasty imported plastics!!! I think I paid $3 for a pack of 6!!!..Very stiff out of the pack, once boiled (I know you hate that concept) they are perfect, and hold shape well, even if returned to packet bent etc. Very tough, 1 bait survived all fish...just, swam perfect on Matts jigheads...they are not hollow, but they hold on the jighead easy without glue etc.

    I have forgotten the name, and where I got them...(it was about 2 yrs ago!)...I will do some research.

    cheers Steve

  7. #22

    Re: Soft plastic modifications- or ditch it?

    Quote Originally Posted by setthehook View Post
    Great read Johnny!
    Those rattles are great, I have been using them in slickies and hollows for some time. For those who wish to try them they are usually found in the Fly fishing section of tackle stores.
    I have been wondering lately if barra respond to scented plastics, another area of the game im going play with...
    I have contacted major overseas tackle companies and im waiting for all their catalogues to arrive in my mail box so i can see what the rest of the world has to offer in both plastics and hard bodies and often they are are much cheaper....
    Also has anyone really tried a yabby imitation plastic, something the same size, colour and shape of the common yabby? They are in the dams and i dont doubt for a second a barra would eat a yabbie...
    Thats part of the fun the searching and tinkering...if one lure worked just fine on all ocasions that wouldnt be much fun?

    regarding the yabbie thing, i had a session on tinaroo earlier in the year where a number of barra we caught regurgitated fresh redclaw (in bits) they seemed generally hungry or 'switched on' though, as we caught them on a range of presentations alongside eachother, from shallow twiched HB's to plastics allowed to sink down the weed wall before retrieve

    slow rolled storm suspending swimbait=big ass barra lolly!! while it can be painful to work a lure so slowly, they certainly reward the patient angler....

  8. #23

    Re: Soft plastic modifications- or ditch it?

    Johnny, mate I dont chase the Barra on the dam but releasing great info like that to the masses needs a big pat on the back. It has given me some thoughts on my shallow Snapper fishing too.

    Cheers

    Chris
    Democracy: Simply a system that allows the 51% to steal from the other 49%.

  9. #24

    Re: Soft plastic modifications- or ditch it?

    Can I just throw this in for good measure - are anglers these days too much Plastic minded and 99.9% of the time fish with the 'lazymans' method? Have we started to see a definite cease in the use of Hardbody lures? I for one hope not!

    Cheers
    Theo
    TT

  10. #25

    Re: Soft plastic modifications- or ditch it?

    Quote Originally Posted by setthehook View Post
    Good too here my idea with yabbies wasnt a silly one...
    Cheers mate and look forward meeting on the water well talk yabbies lol... dare i mention i recken a barra would eat small eels? and ive seen them swimming on the surface at the same time as the barra were sunning themselves....
    Gidday Rob

    Bass Pro and Cabelas have some good red claw imitations. I just picked up a few Bubble Craw, of reasonable size. They send a bubble trail out as they descend and when they hit the bottom, their claws point upwards and waft about....probably thanks to the weight on the hook being near its eye rather than shank. I'll show you a couple at the Muster.

    Interesting also about the small eels, I have a couple of little plastic lizards that might look similar - rigged unweighted....who knows?

    Cheers
    Paul
    Ranger 188VX - "Sweet Chariot"

  11. #26

    Re: Soft plastic modifications- or ditch it?

    Cheers mate be interested to take a look! waiting on my Cabelas catalogue to arrive!

  12. #27

    Re: Soft plastic modifications- or ditch it?

    Hi Theo mate no i see the hardbodies on 2 out of 3 of the rods on most mondy crews boats.

    Awoonga crew about 50/50 so the hardody is still going well.

    Many in the NT were about 70-80% Hard body and 10-30% Softies, but that
    is changing with the success plastics have enjoyed. In fact some territory boys are enjoying success on plastics now at Awoonga.

    Note: Some NT guys have had boxes full of soft plastics used decades ago.

    History: It probably needs to be noted here that NT guys were using soft plastics on barra in the 70's and 80's with tournament wins included in their results. Including barra caught in weedbeds and skipped across lilly pads, remind you of something? Articles even written on plastics in weed decades ago. Some date back pre cyclone Tracy so impoundments down here didn't invent soft plastics on barra.

    Half the people on here weren't born when this was going on. Oh and finesse fishing with plastics on barra has also been done up north with bream plastics and jig heads filling some tackle boxes i've seen, dating back ages. I just thought i'd add this for those that enjoy a bit of history/respect for our pioneers work.

    I think plastics are getting talked about in this thread as their barra evolution doesn't have the volumes printed when compared to Hard bodies that's all.

    Many seem to know what is a crap hard body, but not a lot judge plastics as honestly as their hard bodies, for instance if you had a lure that didnt swim in gears 1 and gears 2 (Dead slow & really slow) you would can them completely.

    This doesn't happen in the soft plastic world yet. Why?

    Cheers Lyndon.

  13. #28

    Re: Soft plastic modifications- or ditch it?

    Lyndon,

    Yes used the Vibrotails up in the NT in the late 70's early 80's. The drop bear colour of recent times, was the pink or orange layed over the while lure in the sun to get the colour in those days. Still have a few in the shed and the action on these plastics are still great. Pity didn't have enough for a good bash again with them.

    Regards


    Trev
    Fish for the future, enjoy the present but think of your children.

  14. #29

    Re: Soft plastic modifications- or ditch it?

    Quote Originally Posted by TinarooTriumph View Post
    Can I just throw this in for good measure - are anglers these days too much Plastic minded and 99.9% of the time fish with the 'lazymans' method? Have we started to see a definite cease in the use of Hardbody lures? I for one hope not!

    Cheers
    Theo
    When you find something better - "SWITCH TO IT!"

    On a more serious note Theo ....... i dont think we will see the demise of the Hard body just a realignment. I think a big part of it is that these days our focus is not necessarily on hard structure - we fish weed flats & edges a lot more & placcys a well suited to this environment.
    from a personal perspective ...... I feel I cover much more water when using a placcy - but I certainly dont see it as a lazy way of fishing>

    Chris
    Give a man a fish & he will eat for a day !
    Teach him how to fish
    & he will sit in a boat - & drink beer all day!
    TEAM MOJIKO

  15. #30

    Re: Soft plastic modifications- or ditch it?

    i have been trying soft plastics a lot lately with not much result. especially hollowbellies. i have bought several packets and fished them for many hours with few hits. when i switched back to bombers my hit rate went through the roof. i really want to get hits on plastics as they collect far less weed, however they are not giving a good result compared to hard lures. i know everyone is going to bite back with comments of lack of skill and experience, thats fine. but hard bodies are generating more interest in tinaroo at the moment. the only person i know of getting really good results on plastics is barraboss and he is using slick rigs, which everyone is saying are now outdated. i would really like to see a barra dvd which is like an instructional coaching video. they exist for many other sports and hobbies. It would be great to see something like the different retrieve methods, how to fish shallow and deep hard bodies, soft lures, what to look for on a sounder in an impoundment such as points, depths, drop offs, bait, etc. i would pay big money for something of this style. it's great that people are making us think more about our fishing styles and how to read conditions, however sometimes we need confirmation we are indeed reading into things correctly. i have been very lucky lately that theo and a few select locals have been helping me develop my fishing and my hit rate has increased at least 10 fold, probably more. even so, as everyone on here will agree, we are always on the lookout to learn more. it looks like i will be without a boat for the next 3 weeks due to delayed delivery of my new boat. in this time i will be back to land based fishing and hope to give the softies a variety of retrieves to see if anything happens. with all the hype in the last 12 months in particular i can honestly say that i am very disappointed in the performance of the soft plastics i have tried. sorry if i offend anyone.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Join us